Subject: (LAWRENCE, KS, USA) Heterosexist petition drive misses deadline
Date: Sun, 25 Feb 1996 16:18:03 -0600
From: kevyn@KSUVM.KSU.EDU (Kevyn Jacobs) (by way of kevyn@ksu.edu (Kevyn Jacobs))
To: kevyn@KSUVM.KSU.EDU
To whom it may concern:
Attached please find a post regarding a local battle over the inclusion
of sexual orientation in the human relations ordinance in the city of
Lawrence, Kansas. Please feel free to adapt this information or forward
it as you see fit; however, if you print it word for word I'd like to be
credited for it. This was originally sent out to the email list of the
queer student organization at the University of Kansas, which I
administer. Thank you!
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As you may have already known, a group representing the far right of the
local Republican party in Lawrence has been working since August to
collect signatures on a petition to hold a local referendum on removing
the words "sexual orientation" from the Lawrence Human Relations
Ordinance. The words were added last April by a 3-2 vote of the city
commission following several years of work by a local coalition known as
Simply Equal. "Simply Equal" has also become sort of a nickname for the
amendment, which allows people of ANY sexual orientation legal recourse
if they have been discriminated against on the basis of their sexual
orientation in housing, employment, or public accommodations. The people
circulating the petition were hoping to get the amendment repealed,
which would make discrimination based on sexual orientation legal again
in Lawrence.
So here's what has happened: in order to get a referendum on the ballot
in a local election, Kansas statutes require that signatures be collected
on the petitions for a period of no longer than 180 days. The group
circulating the so-called "anti-special-rights" petition made a very
public announcement of the start of their petition drive on August 26
(not APRIL 26, as the _University Daily Kansan_ printed in its coverage
today, which was otherwise pretty accurate), when they held a meeting at
the county fairgrounds to kick off their petition drive (a meeting at
which, not surprisingly, illegal voter registration is widely reported to
have occurred; however, no charges have been filed in connection with
this).
Yesterday - February 21 - marked the 180th day from the start of their
petition drive, and the deadline passed without petitions being turned
in to the city. Because of this, the entire petition drive is now
legally null and void. In _Telegraphics_, a Lawrence right-wing
independent newspaper, John Watkins - the leader of the petition drive -
claims that they decided not to submit the petitions because the recent
cancellation of the April presidential primary in Kansas, which the
referendum would have been attached to, would have caused the city to
have to go to the expense of a special election on the issue. A special
election, which would cost the city $10 to 12,000, would certainly make
the referendum proponents look bad, seeing as how one of their big
selling points is their claim that the amendment is going to cost the
city a great deal of money to enforce. (By the way, the only thing
Simply Equal has cost the city since being passed in April is a modest
amount they've spent in educating the public about the ordinance, and no
money at all has had to be spent on enforcing it).
It is clear to anyone with half a brain that the REAL reason they didn't
submit a petition, however, is that they failed to collect the 2,852
signatures needed to get a referendum. In the _Telegraphics_ article,
Watkins claims to have 2,000 signatures and that petitions are still
"pouring in"; of course he wants the public to think that they have more
support for their ill-conceived referendum than they actually do.
Unfortunately, these folks can't seem to get it through their heads that
the majority of people of Lawrence have now made it clear TWICE that they
support equal rights for ALL people - once by electing city commission
candidates who supported equal rights and demonstrated that by passing
the ordinance change in April, and now once again by refusing to sign
their names to this heterosexist and misleading petition. How many times
will we have to prove to these people that our city wants to continue its
proud heritage of being a forerunner for civil rights in the state of
Kansas?
Watkins says they plan to start a whole new petition drive, in the hopes
of getting a referendum on the issue on the ballot for the August
election. My personal hope is that every time they start to bring this
up again, the citizens of Lawrence will grow more and more sick of their
tired, inaccurate, and misleading claims. Some people just don't know
reality when it smacks them in the face. The very idea that people
should be able to VOTE on who gets equal rights and who doesn't continues
to amaze me. I will keep you all posted of the news on this as it
continues to unfold.
Sincerely,
Chris Hampton
LesBiGayS-OK Email Coordinator
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